The Michael-Vick-returns-to-Atlanta-as-a-starter-with-a-new-$100-million-contract storyline would make this game compelling no matter what, but it’s a particularly compelling matchup because of what happened last week. While the Eagles took care of business against St. Louis, the Falcons were trounced in Chicago, failing to score an offensive touchdown while helping make Jay Cutler look like a very good quarterback. This came after Atlanta ended the 2010 seasons by losing its first playoff game by the largest-ever margin for a top-seeded team in a playoff opener. It’s not panic time yet, but you can almost sense the concern of Falcon fans: Is our post-Vick development into an NFC power starting to stall?

So tonight’s game is clearly more important for the home team — and, in particular, the home quarterback — than it is for the visitors. Matt Ryan moved the ball well enough last week, racking up over 300 yards, but he couldn’t get his team into the end zone. Meanwhile, Vick couldn’t even complete half his passes and was under constant pressure thanks to a weak offensive line, but he still threw for two touchdowns and ran for nearly 100 yards. An Atlanta radio host guessed this week that maybe 20% of Falcons fans are still loyal to Vick, while the rest have moved on and are behind Ryan. But will that ratio change if Ryan struggles tonight and Vick is able to lead his new team to a victory in the Georgia Dome?

Besides finding a way to finish drives, the key for Atlanta will be taking advantage of Philadelphia’s offensive-line troubles to frustrate Vick and limit the damage from DeSean Jackson and the rest of the Eagles receiving corps. Because the Rams were able to get pressure on Vick last week, Jackson was held to six catches and 102 yards. If the line can actually buy Vick some time tonight, Jackson could have a very big game.

Michael Vick tried hard all week not to feed this angle, saying all of the right things about how it’s Matt Ryan’s house and he’s just the visiting quarterback. But before going to a break, NBC just showed a shot of the Georgia Dome with the words “WHOSE HOUSE IS IT?” over it.

Big third-down completion to Julio Jones for Ryan. That was a play that came about one second away from ending in a sack, or even worse, but instead ends up with the Falcons continuing their first march.

Michael Turner has been getting lots of carries early, but he can’t get the final two yards in two chances from the 2-yard line for Atlanta. Which is fine by Matt Ryan, who uses the third-and-goal play to throw his first touchdown of the season to Roddy White.

I didn’t see the hit that Vick took on the last play of the first quarter until NBC showed the replay. Here’s the best way to describe it: as a reminder of how much trouble his offensive line can cause for him.

Huge break for the Eagles as an offsides negates a dropped pass on third down — and sets up a 1st and goal at the 4. This drive seemed to stall when McCoy was forced out after two big plays. Looks like he’s coming back in now, though, just when the Eagles could use him.

After Vick scrambles — what else is new? — Maclin is so surprised to be wide open that he loses his footing and falls… into the end zone. The Eagles answer the Falcons’ touchdown, which I guess means the “WHOSE HOUSE IS THIS?” debate is back on.

Some tight coverage on third down forces Ryan to throw it out of bounds. But after NBC showed a pregame clip of Julio Jones jumping to the top of the Georgia Dome, I half-expected the receiver to catch the errant pass somehow. The Eagles take over in Atlanta territory after the punt.

I would never expect anything else from Andy Reid, but there was a not-awful case there for the Eagles to go for it on 4th down there. They were one yard short and would have had Atlanta pinned inside the 5 even if they somehow didn’t advance that one yard with Michael Vick under center. Then again, when they’ve tried to run the ball in short-yard situations tonight, they’ve been stuffed. And after a field goal, a 10-7 lead on the road isn’t bad.

And now we have the night’s first sack, with Ryan going down on third. The two quarterbacks both seemed pretty strong early, but Vick seems to be asserting himself more now: 102 yards for him in the air (and 14 more on the ground), and just 36 for Ryan. Plus, you know, a 10-7 lead for the former Falcons quarterback.

Let me rephrase that last one: I’m thinking we’re one play away from the Falcons pressure finally getting to Vick, knocking the ball loose, setting up a defensive lineman to scoop it up and run it all the way back to the Philly 10. That sound you hear? Not booing!

On third down, Ryan steps back, pauses for a second and tosses to Tony Gonzalez in the back of the end zone. The tight end hauls it in with one hand and seems to get both feet down for the touchdown. But here comes the protracted review…

That’s two turnovers for Vick in his last three plays, with the ball stripped at midfield after he dances around trying desperately to make a play. I get why Philly was aggressive here: The Eagles have to kick off to start the second half. But they may soon wish they’d just taken a knee and gone to the locker room down four.

… or Alex Henery will try a 63-yard field goal and come up well short. What a wild final few minutes of the half: three turnovers, one touchdown and one missed field goal. Hard to believe that just a few minutes ago, it looked like the Falcons were beginning to unravel and that the Eagles would be up double-digits at halftime. Instead, the home team leads, and after coughing it up twice, you have to wonder a little about Michael Vick’s confidence in the second half.

Falcons start from their own 20, and Trent Cole promptly drops Michael Turner for a loss on first down. Ryan only threw six completions for 53 yards in the first half, but he may be forced to throw more now.

Oh, good, here’s Ryan’s Michael Vick impersonation on third down as he scrambles and slides four yards short of a first down. Vick will start at his own 40. Let’s see if he does a better impression of himself than Ryan does.

Well, there’s the answer to my question about Vick protecting the ball (and being Vick): no. He barely gets rid of it under pressure on first down and throws an interception, the third in No. 7′s last five plays from scrimmage.

And Ryan promptly makes the Eagles pay with a 32-yard pass to Michael Turner, followed immediately by a another touchdown toss to Gonzalez. That’s three touchdowns on the night for Ryan — one for each Vick turnover.

A really nice wide-receiver screen to Maclin turns into a 36-yard touchdown. So: really, really nice. That’s a quick four-play drive for Philadelphia, bringing the Eagles back within one score. But I’m still wondering where they’d be now if Reid had challenged the Vick pick.

And now its Ryan’s turn to throw a pick. He chooses Asante Samuel on the first play from scrimmage. It looks like Atlanta will challenge (see how that works, Coach Reid), but the replays hint that this call will be upheld and the Eagles will have the ball deep in Atlanta territory.

This is trouble. Vick finds Maclin, who takes a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit from Danta Robinson, who did the same thing to DeSean Jackson last year (and was also flagged for a facemask earlier tonight). Michaels and Collinsworth are scolding him for dirty play now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends in a suspension for Robinson. But the game goes on, and the Eagles are now at the Falcons’ 47, with 15 yards added on for that penalty.

Maclin is back in the game, by the way. Vick looks for Avant on third-and-eight and the pass is nearly picked. Instead, Philly punts and downs it at the Atlanta 1-yard line. Bad place for the Falcons to start, but they’re probably just thankful that drive didn’t end with another score for Philly.

The Eagles’ pressure has been really great tonight. Another three-and-out here, with Ryan barely getting out of the end zone as he scrambles on third down. Also: Asante Samuel is out of the game with what NBC tells us is an “open dislocated finger,” something I’m having a hard time picturing.

And now Vick is out after sustaining an inadvertent head-to-head collision with his own lineman on his way to the ground after being hit. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your interim Eagles quarterback: Mike Kafka, the pride of Northwestern. Kafkaesque!

Lots of confusion here. On second down, Kafka dumps it off to McCoy, who either drops the pass or catches it and fumbles it. There’s a mad scramble for the ball, then shoving breaks out, an official falls over and Andy Reid waddles out onto the field. At which point the officials announce that John Abraham roughed Kafka on the play. So it’s first-and-goal for the Eagles from the 2. Got all that?

Good news for Philly: McCoy runs it in from two yards out. Bad news: Right before the play, NBC shows Michael Vick possibly coughing up blood on his way to the locker room. Eagles lead by 10, but that was a costly drive.

The Atlanta running game is being shut down: just 65 total yards. Looks like the Falcons will need Ryan to step up, but he comes under pressure (again) on second down and is driven hard into the ground. He gets up slowly and tucks his shoulder pads back in as NBC reminds us that Chris Redmond is his backup. Gulp.

On third down from the Philly 43, Julio Jones makes an acrobatic catch to keep the drive alive. Julio Jones! Remember him? Atlanta hurries up to the line and Ryan finds Harry Douglas at the 15 for another first down. Falcons moving the ball as well as they have in a while.

Another key catch for Gonzalez on third down, moving the Falcons to the 18. They’re easily in field-goal range here. But if they can get seven, it will force the Vick-less Eagles to play for the touchdown.

A four-yard toss to Turner gives the Falcons the lead. They more than doubled their entire running production for the game on that drive. Philly could really use a big return here, or for McCoy to break a run open a la Turner. Or, maybe this next drive will mark the birth of the legend of Mike Kafka.

And just when it looks like Philly gets its badly needed break with a giant Dion Lewis return, there it is: the dreaded yellow flag. Holding on the return team. Ball goes all the way back to the Eagles’ 18.

Maclin has come up huge for the Eagles tonight, but he can’t hang on on fourth down even after Kafka hits him right in the numbers. Unless there’s a miracle here, this will be a painful way for the Eagles to lose.

The bottom line here is that Atlanta got a win it really needed, defended its home turf and avoided an 0-2 start. But when it comes to the Ryan-Vick drama that made this game so compelling, I don’t think we learned anything new.

Both quarterbacks had their moments, but each showed plenty of flaws. Ryan got the win, and a week after failing to reach the end zone once, he managed to throw a career-high four touchdowns. But he also made some questionable decisions under near-constant pressure and ended up throwing two interceptions. For most of the game, Vick looked like the better quarterback, rolling up 242 yards, throwing two touchdowns and scrambling for a key first down. But he also fumbled it away twice, once near the goal line, and threw what will officially be recorded as an interception — but only because Andy Reid failed to challenge what was clearly a bad call by the officials. When Vick left the game, his team was leading 24-21 and was on the verge of adding another touchdown.

We’ll soon see how serious Vick’s injury is. NBC told us it involved his neck and that X-rays weren’t immediately taken. Eagles fans will obviously hold their breaths — when they’re not cursing Reid for leaving his challenge flag in his pocket on what may have ended up being the most pivotal play of the game.

Comments (5 of 22)

Michael vick is a great quarter back and his great talent will over come his flaws. This weekend he broke randall cunninghams record. Great game but unfortunately the eagles lost continuing their losing streak

all you people who r happy to see him injured remember this. he is getting paid either way. so u would rather have him sit and make 100 million than destroying his body and making 100? wow

10:55 am September 19, 2011

Anonymous wrote:

who cares about his off field antics. all that matters is that they play well. look at kenny britt, cedric benson, and too many others. they do bad things off the field, but all that matter is they go out on the field and play the game and keep their head while WORKING

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